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Just when I am off to the library to pick up my reserved copy of a book that Craig recommended -- RADIO SHANGRI-LA by Lisa Napoli -- I find this delightful thread. Please keep the recommendations coming.

Here is a suggestion. If anyone saw or is planning to see the exhibit at the Met (or Boston or Milwaukee),"The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City," I highly recommend a very short, readable biography of Qianlong by Mark C. Elliott -- EMPEROR QIANLONG: SON OF HEAVEN, MAN OF THE WORLD. http://tinyurl.com/62mtzvx

I am reading To Japan With Love, "a travel guide for the connoisseur". It has several short pieces (personal essays), like travel reports here, by a variety of authors and in different categories, like cultural encounters, spiritual Japan, young at heart, etc. They are written for the most part (maybe all) by foreigners who have lived in Japan. Many of the writers are women.

Each article is followed by info (fact file) about the place/experience discussed, especially "getting to" info (which can pretty specific).

I just finished a 2010 translation of Lao She's, Rickshaw Boy. What a book. He read and admired Dickens and I do not mean at all to compare talents or style, but the issues of workers and poor people in developing nations is dramatic and compelling. Now after all these years, it does stimulate a great deal of thought on how England and China - more specifically London and Beijing - dealt with that legacy.
But without any other reasons, it is a novel you must read.

It's about a young man in his 20's who decides to volunteer for 3 months in an orphanage in Nepal. He fell in love with the kids and went back to stay for a year. He found out the kids were not orphans but had been victims of a man who conviced their parents in rural north west Nepal to give up their kids for a better life. He took the parents money and sold the kids to Maoist soldiers, and worse. Many of the kids ended up in his orphanage and he spent (and is still doing so) years finding and reuniting the kids with their parents.

Reading "To A Mountain in Tibet" by Colin Thubron, about the author's overland trek to Mt Kailas, sacred, as he puts it, to "one fifth of the world's population." Vivid and graceful writing, tales from local mythology and religion, some harrowing details on local life -- the sky burial description will stay with you -- and an open eye towards history and current politics.

If radio programs count, some might enjoy a BBC series called "In Our
Time". The format is three academics discussing a topic, chaired by
by Melvyn Bragg (well-known in the UK). Here are links to some
recent items of Asia interest. Click on any of these to get to the
full archive.

For book sets in Indonesia, DL has these on his bookshelf: House of Glass, and The Mute's Soliloquy by Pramoedya Ananta Toer( he won a very prestigious prize for his writing and he also was a candidate for a nobel prize) , Max Haveliaar (or the coffee auctions of the Dutch Trading Company) by Muliatuli.

Not to hijack this thread, but I wondered the same thing so i googled it. An interview with the director last summer 8/10:

RF: And did the daugther, Qin, watch the film?

LF: Qin didn’t watch the film.

RF: How is she doing now?

LF: I met her last month. She left her job in Shenzhen after we finishing filming. She went to another province, Hubai province. She stayed in a smaller city to work in a hotel. But now she quit her job. She seems pretty happy now living independently in the city. She told me she has a boyfriend now. Although she has very little education. That’s worrisome. But I think she’s a smart girl, she knows how to make her way.

RF: How old is she now?

LF: She’s 20. Big girl.

RF: Is she talking to her parents?

LF: She told me that she called during the spring festival. Other than that, they don’t talk. She did [go] back to see her brother.

LF: How is he doing?

RF: The brother got into a really good high school this past summer. He got into the best high school in his town. The mother quit her job to go back and take care of him.

In the latter is the classic story which I'll briefly relate to the best of my fading memory. An American officer, who speaks fluent Chinese (Mandarin or dialect, don't remember) gets out of his car and approaches two peasant farmers. He asks "Is this the road to Chengdu?". They stare at him blankly. He repeats the question, slowly. Blank stares. He shrugs his shoulders and starts walking away. One of the farmers turns to the other and says "It sounded like that foreigner was asking if this was the road to Chengdu!"

I greatly appreciate this thread as I plan my first foray to Asia (China in September). I feel like a stranger in a strange land not being on the Europe forum! I'm having a harder time finding literature in particular that has been translated to English, unlike my reading list for Russia last year.

Just a word of appreciation for this thread. I am currently reading RADIO SHANGRI-LA (Craig's recommendation), with Kathie's recommended BADLANDS moved to the top of the pile, and I am planning to see eks-recommended THE LAST TRAIN HOME as soon as possible. Please keep the titles coming.

Once having arrived in Vietnam early in March with a new Kindle, I went in search of novels for purchase. Surprisingly, the New York Times list of "100 Notable Books" for 2010 includes three works of fiction about Vietnam, each one about the war. Because of the strong impression made by the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, I bought and read all three during our 27 days in Vietnam. I should say that I haven't been a fan of movies of the Vietnam War, having seen only a few of the many available, but after the museum visit I wanted to read some novels about it.
THE LOTUS EATERS by Tatjana Soli features the experiences of a young woman photojournalist named Helen. I selected it first because of the strong impact of the photos at the museum. Inherently interesting, and showing the pull Vietnam exerts on the main characters, this one has many virtues but with some of the flaws of a first novel. The author tries to do too much, for one thing. Helen's affairs, first with a seasoned photojournalist who acts as a mentor, and then with a Vietnamese man (Linh), sets up some of the alternatives she struggles with.
THE GIRL BY THE ROAD AT NIGHT by David Rabe is more compact and more focused. And Rabe is an a expert in Vietnamese literature and mythology and drama. His experience as a writer makes this the most beautifully written of the three. The subject here is the relationship of an American GI with a Vietnamese prostitute. Their relationship develops into something personal, though fraught with tragic cross-cultural misunderstandings--a theme that links it with THE LOTUS EATERS.
MATTERHORN is a mammoth, sprawling epic decades in the making. It describes a few months in the life of a member of the US infantry with all of the challenges, hardships, reversals, brutality, and growth attending war in the jungle. The stupidity of commanding officers, the racial tensions between GIs, the increasing alienation from a previous life--the incommensurability of being in combat in that war with anything "normal" comes through. Interestingly, in Hue I met in a restaurant one night a former military man who had been an American advisor in Vietnam as long ago as 1963. He has since made 30 trips back, bringing vets with him, and now volunteering to assist teachers on English in Vietnam schools. When I mentioned, with a bit of uncertainty, having just finished reading MATTERHORN (he had lived those experiences himself, after all), he responded appreciatively. He was as gripped by it as I was and said it was all accurate. That endorsement gave me confidence in my own reaction to the book. This novel is graphic but hard to put down. The writing is flawed at points, but that's easily overlooked. MATTERHORN is the equivalent of a page-turner in Kindle-ese.
There it is, as the GIs in MATTERHORN say. Three novels with a similar subject but each different from the others and each very much worth reading.

Another word of appreciation for the film recommended above, THE LAST TRAIN HOME, which shows the fractured families and fractured dreams that the great migration to China's southern factories has created.

This technique of showing the dramatic impact of larger social movements on individuals and their families -- particularly those who are less powerful, less well represented, less inclined to have a voice -- is deeply moving.

This film reminded me so very much of UP THE YANGTZE, directed by Yung Chang, and now I learn from the interview link thoughtfully posted by amyb above that director Fan Lixin actually served as an associate producer/sound recorder/translator on that earlier film.

If you liked THE LAST TRAIN HOME and you haven't yet seen UP THE YANGTZE, please do.

I enjoyed reading RADIO SHANGRI-LA but more for the opportunity to get to know author Lisa Napoli than for the chance to discover much about Bhutan. I respect her intrepid seeking spirit, but I wish that she had both mulled her experiences over longer and spent more time working with an editor.

For me, the book succeeds as a cross between a spiritual autobiography and a valentine to her adopted second country. It just doesn't give quite as much vicarious experience of Bhutan as this reader would have liked. It is a great promotion for the concept of Gross National Happiness though.

Anyone?

Also on the subject of vicarious travel to less probable destinations, I am glad to have read TONY WHEELER'S BAD LANDS: A TOURIST ON THE AXIS OF EVIL although I don't think that it rises to the level of 'drop what you are doing and read it now.'

The premise of the book is highly engaging and I mostly get a kick out of Wheeler's sense of humor, but don't expect this thin quilt of cultural lore and personal musings to stimulate deep thought. You learn a little bit about each of the countries showcased -- Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea & Saudi Arabia -- but traveling with Wheeler at that pace leads to an inevitable "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" level of insight."

Yes, yes, I know that the point is to quash the idea of an axis of evil and champion a more nuanced notion of good and evil at home and abroad. To that a resounding "Bravo"! Wheeler's "Evil Meter TM" analysis and "Other Bad Lands -- the Extended List" do show evidence of an admirable willingness to embrace complexity. They just don't break any new ground.

Anyone looking for more romps through rogue (and otherwise less accessible) countries might also enjoy Elinor Burkett's SO MANY ENEMIES, SO LITTLE TIME: AN AMERICAN WOMAN IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES.

History buffs can rummage through piles of books about the US experience in Vietnam. For balance, Valley of Death, newly released in hard cover, examines the battles that kicked the French out of the country in the 1950s. It's by Ted Morgan, a Pulitzer-prizewinner.
North Americans know little about the Second World War in Asia other than the American campaigns against Japan.Two books by British authors detail (and how) the horrors of that war in the British colonies: Burma, Malaya, Singapore, the eastern side of India, Hong Kong in passing and the postwar attempt to return Indonesia to Dutch rule. The scope of the bloodshed is appalling and overlooked. Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper called their books Forgotten Armies (the Japanese campaigns) and Forgotten Wars (the aftermath for the British Empire.) They're both in paperback, and both are long and complicated -- but today those lands are still complicated and of increasing importance.

I just read a really entertaining novel set in Vietnam, called 'Hanoi Jane' by Elka Ray - it's chick lit, so is light reading, but was entertaining and full of fun details about Vietnam. I've also been following the author's blog at elkaray.com. I lived in Hanoi for two years and this book reminded me of that amazing experience.

Well, I have to disagree with the esteemed ekscunchy. I am in the middle of Ian Frazier's book right now, and rather wish I hadn't bother to start it. Aside from a few days on the largely barren tip of Russia on the Bering Strait, it took 170 pages for him to get started on actually visiting Siberia. Most of that was flatly recounted history, most of which I already knew. Now he is finally traveling, he doesn't seem to be seeing much more than I did on the train.

He also seem to be lacking curiosity. Encountering just one Englishman in his trip across Siberia, he writes down his name and never checks to find out that he's a guidebook writer - in fact I have the first edition of Lonely Planet's Trans-Siberian, which he co-authored, on my shelves.

I think I'd be better off forgetting the remaining 200 pages and looking for Thubron's "In Siberia" instead.

Here is one that I read years ago and remember liking well enough; if you have time, perhaps give it a go and see what you think. Tayler has written a few other travel books; I seem to remember that he lives, or has lived, in Russia. He is no Colin Thurbron, though.

So, if we are looking for masterful writing on Asian subjects, Colin Thubron may be a fine place to turn next? I have SHADOW OF THE SILK ROAD sitting on my pile. Is there a more beloved Thubron choice?

marya - I'd say "Heart of Asia" - but I just checked his bibliography, and discovered he started writing back in the 1960s! If you're reading Silk Road books, has Peter Fleming's classic "News From Tartary" been mentioned?

A few good reads (novels) about women ex-pats in China:
Foreign Babes in Beijing (pretty funny and astute!)
Nicole Mones' Lost in Translation, A Cup of Light, The Last Chinese Chef.
Also - I read Red China Blues awhile ago - I didn't think it was remarkable...
Anything by Peter Hessler or Simon Winchester is worth the time, I think

Yesterday I went to see the movie "Empire of Silver" set in late 19th century China of a powerful banking empire in Shanxi Province. Beautifully shot, worth watching just to learn the history and culture of that era.

I am going to mention a book I just read that is partly set in Asia. The conceit here is that the writer travels around the world on the most dangerous or uncomfortable conveyances he can find, which include overloaded ferries in Bangladesh and Indonesia, buses in Peru, trains in Mali/Senegal, commuter trains in India, etc etc.

It certainly is not an essential read but might be worth considering for that long train ride!

The most sustained literary effort, I suppose, would be to read the entire BURU QUARTET by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who is widely held to be Indonesia's most accomplished writer. I must confess that I have only thus far read book 1: THIS EARTH OF MANKIND. I found it very engaging, but then I needed a break and somehow haven't yet gone back.

When I was visiting Indonesia last year, the British Women's Association was nice enough to let me attend a meeting of their book group to discuss Hella Haasse's THE TEA LORDS, then newly translated from Dutch to English. Definitely do pick up a copy of this story set on Java for both local history and for broader insight into Dutch colonialism in the East Indies.

There are two travelogue-adventure-type books that are dated, but I found them helpful (among slim pickings, as you acknowledge) in my effort to learn something about the country before going there.

AN EMPIRE OF THE EAST: TRAVELS IN INDONESIA by Norman Lewis

DISTANT ISLANDS: TRAVELS ACROSS INDONESIA by Charles Corn

Marmot highly recommended THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY by Christopher Koch. I had seen the film with Mel Gibson/Linda Hunt years prior and I bet that you have also seen it. She said that it contained much more than what the film adaptation captured. Agreed! I did like the book very much.

Have you already read KRAKATOA: THE DAY THE WORLD EXPLODED etc. by Simon Winchester? It is packed with so much science, history, politics...fabulous. Krakatoa is located, as you know, in the strait between Java and Sumatra.

I've just ordered many of those books (all but BURU QUARTET), and found another travelogue to order "Across the Equator, a Holiday Trip in Java" - Thomas H. Reid I think I have enough to keep me entertained for the time being! Many thanks.

I love the Year of Living Dangerously and re-read it regularly. I try, but I can't get enthusiastic about Pramoedya Toer.

Simon Winchester's book on Kratatoa is a compendium of information about the culture, geography and history and of course the geology of the era and area.

I'd also look for a biography of Stamford Raffles focusing on his time in Java and his impact on the restoration of Borobudur. Raffles of the Eastern Isles is good, but I'm not sure it's still in print.

Norman Lewis was a bit crochety by the time he got to Indonesia. He skips Java. I especially like VS Naipul's Among the Believers and the sequel, Beyond Belief: excellent commentaries on non-Arab Islam.

Actually any understanding of tropical Islam and the politics of Sukarno and Soeharto is essential for an understanding of Java. Understanding Islam in Indonesia is very good but very dry.

Have not yet read this soon-to-be-released and well reviewed book, but since it belongs to the tiny genre of English-language memoirs about the Cambodian genocide, I'll mention it here; I have it on my library list and some of you might want to add it as well:

In the Shadow of the Banyon, mentioned above, about the Cambodian genocide, is a very good read. While it is told as a fictional account, it is also a memoir of a survivor of the royal family. I highly recommend it.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this very well written book, From the Land of Green Ghosts by Pascal Thwe. It is the true story of his life as a child in a Burmese hill tribe, his odyssey to study at the university, his escape from government forces during the student uprisings and his sponsorship to England and Cambridge by a professor he meets while in Burma. It is an excellent book and very well written. I couldn't put it down.

I finished a book yesterday that I'd categorize as being on the fringe of an Asia book. It's a beautifully written fictionalized biography of the novelist, E. M. Forster (A Room with a View, Howards's End, A Passage to India), and is largely about his time in India and Egypt. 'Artic Winter', by Damon Galgut. It's been a long time since I've read anything as well written, poetic.